


Stuck in the Superstore With You

by HarmonizingSunsets



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler Fluff, Broadway Musical, College AU, College Friends, F/M, Hamliza, I'm a sucker for this trope, Modern AU, Musical, Post-Reynolds Pamphlet, angst resolved, bit of angst, can you imagine forgiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 07:50:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15747447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarmonizingSunsets/pseuds/HarmonizingSunsets
Summary: The familiar feeling of dread flowed through her again. She pushed multiple times, not believing that they had locked them inside.“No this isn’t happening. This can’t be happening,” she said, still pushing on the door with more and more force each time.Alex gave up beside her, turning to her in sympathy and stepping away from the door.“It seems like it is,” he sighed.Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler find themselves stuck in a superstore together and try to amend their relationship despite the past. A modern AU that follows a cliche that I love.





	Stuck in the Superstore With You

**Author's Note:**

> I love this musical pairing and wanted to write about the trials of forgiving another person that you care deeply for. I, of course, had to do this by using a fanfiction cliche that I love. The title is based off the Stealers Wheel song "Stuck in the Middle With You" that reminds me of this fic and ship. Actually, if I'm being honest, the title is even more so based off of a supernatural episode title in the twelfth season that is alluding to the song. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It had been about six months since the scandal. The one that mesmerized the city of New York but had torn Eliza’s life as she knew it to shreds. One day, she was happily engaged to the love of her life, the next she had burned all the love letters he wrote her in college and whenever one of them was separated for work. She thought they were ‘it’ for each other, they started dating freshman year of college and had been madly in love for ten years. They were there for one another through the trials of getting their college education, through finding a job and having to embrace the responsibilities of adulthood, and in the midst of Alexander helping Washington campaign for mayor and Eliza opening her own office as a social worker. He had just received the position of the finance director of New York City when he proposed in the park. They had been eating takeout from Eliza’s favorite Chinese restaurant when they promised each other a future together as he slid the ring on her finger.

They’d been engaged for three months when he published The Reynolds Pamphlet, detailing the affair he had when she had left for a family trip for three months to the birthplaces where all her sisters were born. She knew he was stressed, the campaign for Washington had just started, but she never thought he could do such a thing and have the audacity to lie to her about it for almost an entire year.

She had barely spoken to Alexander, only dropping off the ring he’d given her in a box, full of ashes from the burnt letters. Angelica was impressed when she told her, saying that she didn’t know her sister had it in her to accomplish a dramatic move like that. Eliza knew it was petty and unlike herself, but Alexander had thrown her into a dramatic political scandal that she wanted no part of without so much as a heads up. Still, the look of anguish in his eyes when he opened the box stung in her memory, as did his jumbled list of apologizes he tried to make to her as she walked out.

Eliza was currently staring at the invitation to Lafayette’s cabin in her email inbox. Their friends from college had made a vow to one another before graduating to take time out of their busy lives once a year and visit each other at his vacation cabin. There was a small town surrounding it, parks, rivers, hiking trails, and a pool they some days would spend hours while reminiscing about the past.

She remembered how much it hurt when Alexander didn’t accompany her last year, even though she understood as it was during the middle of the elections’ primary. She still had fun that week, but the lack of his presence had been jarring and showed the underlying problems they’d been having recently. She wanted to see her old friends this weekend, but she was afraid of the pity they’d throw at her if she went. She had enough of that these last few months every time someone recognized her on a street corner or in a department store.

Although, it would be nice to go. Before she knew what she was doing, she clicked Lafayette’s contact on her phone and waited until he picked up after a few rings.

“Eliza, chéri! How is the greatest woman in the greatest city in the world?” he roared from the other line.

“You know I can hear you!” Adrienne his wife and her friend shouted in the distance.

“I said in New York City, I didn’t say the greatest woman in the world. That, of course, is you, mon amour.”

Eliza couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at the exchange, they were one of the liveliest couples she knew.

“I’ve been busy with a few of the kids that I’ve been assigned to. But I can’t complain, I love them as if they were my own.”

She really did. She loved connecting with all the children, trying to find them homes and better places to live. Eliza wanted to give people their best chance as she had gotten, and the opportunities that Alex— _some_ people aren’t so lucky to receive.

“Things have been settling down as well,” she continued, pushing the thought of him out of her mind, looking outside the window which showed a pretty perfect sky with the sun just peeking through the clouds. “So, all in all, I’m fine. Better than fine actually, I’m great.”

She could almost see him waggling a suspicious eyebrow at her.

“Really?” he asked doubtfully.

She cleared her throat, straitening up in her chair as if he was in the room with her. “Of course,” she tried to say in a steady voice, but it came out a little high pitched.

There was a pause on the line, but he quickly filled it before it got too painful. “So, I guess that means you’re coming to the cabin this weekend? Herc, says he’s bringing his new designs for us all to try on so we can have a little fashion show. If John was still here, he would’ve loved it,” Laff said, a bit more quietly.

John Laurens had died their junior year at King's, she wiped away a tear as the memory of his car crash flooded her mind. But the memory of him wasn’t as painful as it once was, they all could now smile at the mention of him instead of it knocking one of them backward.

“Yeah, he would have,” she agreed.

She heard a ruffling of noise on the other line, Eliza guessed Laff was sorting through some papers at his desk. “So, Burr and Theodosia are picking up Martha, you could maybe head down—.”

“Wait,” she interrupted, alarm hinting her voice. She threw her hand to her head, trying to gain the courage to ask what she called for. She hoped she didn’t sound pathetic, but she needed to know before she committed to coming. “I just need to know…is he—I mean has he said that he’s coming? He’s probably busy, of course, he is. I just don’t know if—.”

It was Laff’s turn to interrupt her, knowing where Eliza’s babbling was heading. “No, Hamilton hasn’t responded. So, I’m assuming he’s a no for the weekend.”

Eliza sighed, whether in relief or disappointment she wasn’t so sure. “Okay, then I’ll be there. Could you text me the address again?”

…

It had taken her a little longer than planned to reach the cabin, her car had barely made it up the steep hill to Laff’s place. When she entered the door, she was greeted with all of her college friends hugging her and saying how glad they were to see her. The weight of what was left unsaid laid heavy in the air though, so much so that as her friends were organizing the things they’d brought for the trip, she laid on the couch in the living room to get some peace from it all.

She’d almost drifted off to sleep when she heard a knock at the door. Untangling the mess of her long brown waves, she quickly put it up in a bun as she walked to the door. Even though it was probably just Herc making a fashionably late entrance, she couldn’t afford for anyone to see her less than her best. She was determined to convince everyone that she had moved on and was as strong as she’d ever been.

When she approached the door, Eliza prepared a bright smile to greet Herc with, but it instantly fell as she opened the door and saw the man with hair almost reaching his shoulders, with his facial hair beginning to grow out around his chin, with eyes so vibrant that they showed his intelligence and zeal for life. She used to love looking into them. She used to love being with him. Now he was in front of her and she didn’t know what to feel.

“Oh no,” Eliza thought.

He was holding his overnight bag weakly in his hands, staring at her as if she was a lost piece of treasure that he’d just spent years to uncover. She’d only seen him these past few months on the news, when he’d picked something up from their place, or when she’d passed by his office to get a look at him more times than she’d like to admit.

“Eliza,” he greeted, almost in a whisper, his eyes as big as saucers.

She couldn’t move, she felt as if she was frozen to the floor. She might as well have been frozen because she felt numb. Her face was almost stoic, staring at him with the hopes that he was some sort of mirage

There were so many things she wanted to say, the anger she wanted to ambush him with as he stood in front of her. She had planned a speech a million times over and over in her head, but what came out of her mouth was not what she had planned to say to him on all of those bitter nights.

“I thought you were tied up at work?” she asked.

He took a breath, putting the bag he’d been carrying in his hands over his shoulder. He’d always been one for speeches, known the perfect thing (or at least the thing he thought was perfect) to say at the moment that called for it. However, around her, he’d sometimes gotten tongue-tied. Especially when they had first started dating. She had loved him for it once, still does even though she’d never admitted it out loud since the scandal.

“Not anymore…I got time off,” he finally said, still standing on the other side of the door.

Eliza’s face scrunched up at that, Alexander was never one to put off work for a vacation.

He seemed to see her confusion but instead jumped in with a rush of words that had obviously been on his mind, “Look, Eliza, I’m sorry for my sudden appearance. I just really wanted to talk to you and I didn’t know how else to—.”

Before she could hear the end of the sentence, Herc appeared from behind him, apparently arriving without notice during the exchange. He must have discerned the panicked look in her eyes, so he grabbed Alex from behind and pulled him into one of his infamous bear hugs, practically carrying him into the cabin and passed Eliza.

“Alex, it’s been so long!” he bellowed. “You still carrying that ready to go coffee in your wallet?”

Alex seemed startled at first but eased up in his demeanor as Herc set him down.

“Would I be me if I wouldn’t,” he laughed, but his eyes trailed back to hers, where she was still standing by the doorway.

Eliza couldn’t look back at him, she left them alone after hugging Herc quickly before vanishing into the game room, where she found Laff and Martha playing a game of pool. Their laughs turned quiet as they saw her appearance.

Laff put down the pool cue in his hands and approached her slowly. “Eliza, what’s wrong?”

“He’s here,” she said, in a voice that she didn’t quite recognize.

Martha put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a comforting pat. “We can sneak you out the back. Burr could drive you home after he and Theodosia are done freshening up in their room. As you know, they are far too high maintenance and don’t hold up very well in long drives. Or we could ask Alex to leave if it’s what you wanted.”

Eliza shook her head. Alex was their friend, they knew that all of them had missed him and wanted him around. She wouldn’t deny them of his rare presence because of her. She wasn’t about to run away either. She was a well-functioning adult, after all, she could handle being in the presence of her ex-fiancé. They had been friends once, best friends really, so she was going to suck it up and pretend everything was normal for this weekend. This trip meant too much to her and everyone.

“No. It just surprised me is all. I want to be here, so does he apparently,” she said, shooting a relaxed glance at both of them. They didn’t seem convinced, so she kept talking as she put her hands on her hips, “It’s time I— _we_ , move on. It’s nice to see him again, truly.”

Adrienne who had been reading a book in the corner seemed to giggle a little, lowering her book and giving a mischievous grin.

“Oh really, how nice?” she said, drawing out the how in the sentence in an almost purring tone.

Laff glared at her, but Eliza just rolled her eyes to make it look like she was far off the mark, when in actuality, she’d been very close to the bullseye.

“Just nice. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to head up to my room and unpack a few things,” she said, almost stomping out of the room and up the stairs.

She unpacked at a slow pace, a little longer perhaps than necessary to prolong being in the same room as him again. After twenty minutes she ridiculed herself, she just gathered the courage to open the door when she felt a body thud against it. In worry, she let go of the doorknob and came face to face with Alex who she’d apparently just struck whose eyes were closed in discomfort.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know anyone was—,” she stuttered, but at the same time he said through a wince, “I’m sorry I was just about to knock but I—.”

They both stopped talking as they caught each other’s eyes. She wished she could kiss him, touch where the door hit his face and laugh with him, she wished a lot of things.

She gathered herself, trying to look neutral as she asked, “How long were you on the other side of that door?”

She saw his cheeks flush, scratching the back of his ear nervously.

“A while,” he admitted. “Look I wanted to apologize, it was unfair of me to show up here without a heads up. I’m sorry for everything.”

She couldn’t do this, she wasn’t ready to hear it. She put her hand up, stopping him from speaking any further. They stood there for a moment in silence till she heard Theodosia calling her name. Eliza took that as an excuse to part from him then, not trusting herself in his company. She ran down the stairs, trying to ignore his familiar footsteps following behind her.

Everyone was in the kitchen, mingling around the empty countertop.

“What is it, Theodosia?”

“Eliza, where’s the food?” she asked, opening the fridge that was empty.

Her stomach dropped. It was her and Alex’s turn to bring the food this year. Which meant that they all thought she would have gotten it even in his absence. She exhaled, running a hand through her hair.

“Oh, guys I’m sorry I totally spaced on it,” she said apologetically.

“We should’ve reminded you, or one of us should have done it,” Laff said, waving her worries off. “We forgot too, it’s not your fault.”

“It’s my turn as much as Eliza’s, I’ll go get it some food,” Alex spoke from the side of the kitchen, already grabbing his keys out of his pocket.

Eliza shook her head, “No I should go, it’s okay I’ve got this.”

“You both could go,” Burr suggested, a roguish glint in his eyes.

Theodosia began chastising him, Eliza noticeably deflated. So, Alex saved her, “I wouldn’t want her to feel—I mean I don’t think Eliza really wants to do that.”

Eliza’s eyes enlarged at his words, this was her chance to prove to the group she’d be okay for the weekend. To prove to herself that she wouldn’t fall into pieces in his presence, she would do this. If she went shopping with him she could perhaps finally put all the pain of the past behind her. Afterword’s, she could go on ignoring him and pretending she didn’t still love him for the rest of the weekend.

“Let’s go,” she said, leaving everyone else shocked as she began walking to the front door.

Alex even though he looked a little startled by her decision, didn’t hesitate, seeming to be magnetized to her side and swiftly followed her with his keys in his hands. He walked a little in front of her as they reached the cabin’s entrance, opening the door to let Eliza through like he always used to do for her. Doing this action made something flutter in her chest.

They drove in the car in silence, only the soft melody of the classical music station carrying out through the speakers. She wondered if he’d been used to listening to the programmed station she’d set in his car or if he just hadn’t been bothered to change it, due to him preferring radio stations that played rap or had programmed segments discussing current events.

While Alex drove, she jotted down a list of things for both of them to get and texted it to his phone. The rest of the drive she lingered on the last message she sent him that showed on the screen, it was a picture of them at her parents’ house, post win at the two-legged race, mid-laugh and him planting a chaste kiss on her forehead that Peggy had caught on camera.

It was pretty late, they only had twenty minutes to shop when they arrived. They’d split up to Alexander’s reluctance, promising to meet up in the front when they were done and split the cost. Not many employees were still there. Even though it was a superstore, it was in a small town and didn’t have much staff that late in the night and at that specific store to begin with.

It was one minute to closing, and Eliza still couldn’t find the cookie dough, and she knew Herc would never forgive her if she didn’t bring any back. She was at the baking section for the second time when suddenly the lights began flickering off around her.

A pump of terror coursed through her as she began to be surrounded by darkness. She looked around her frantically but her eyes wouldn’t adjust to the black around her.

“Hello?” she asked, pretty much to the empty air in front of her. When no one responded, her pulse quickened, she let go of the cart and walked aimlessly through the aisle she was in.

“Hello? Is anyone there? Hello!” she shouted, her voice cracking in fear.

She heard footsteps approaching her, Eliza was about to stick out her hands and defend herself when she heard the man walking towards her speak.

“Eliza, it’s me!” Alex said, standing in front of her.

He reached out for her but she flinched away. She did let out a breath of relief, thankful for the moment that she wasn’t alone to navigate through the store. “What’s going on?”

As she took in her surroundings more and more, she was beginning to get used to the darkness. Eliza was starting to see the figures around her become more concrete as she saw him unlock his phone and use his flashlight and turn it towards the front of the store where the doors were.

“We stayed in here too long. I think the last staff member here didn’t think we were still present and left,” he guessed, giving her a remorseful look.

“Well that’s okay, it just was a bit disconcerting,” she caught her breath, putting a hand to her chest. “Let’s just get out of here, we can get food in the morning,” she said, beginning to walk to the sliding doors.

They walked to the doors with haste. When they got up to one, they began both pushing on one with the thought they’d just open.

They didn’t budge.

The familiar feeling of dread flowed through her again. She pushed multiple times, not believing that they had locked them inside.

“No this isn’t happening. This can’t be happening,” she said, still pushing on the door with more and more force each time.

Alex gave up beside her, turning to her in sympathy and stepping away from the door.

“It seems like it is,” he sighed.

When she reached for her phone he shook his head “I’ve already checked, there’s no reception in here. I tried texting Laff that we’d be late but it didn’t go through.”

She moaned and let go of the door. She didn’t have to check her phone because she had the same model as him, he’d picked it out for her last year. She turned her gaze to him and saw him coolly standing beside her without an ounce of anxiety on his features. It staggered her a little, he has always been the one to get panicked if they were late, running around the house as if every meeting or lunch date was the last. Except right now, he seemed calm, almost happy.

“Why aren’t you freaking out? Don’t you have some meeting to go to that requires your 24-hour attention starting at the crack of dawn?” she asked, assuming that he might be only taking a day off then heading back to the city.

He seemed hurt at the accusation, “No, all the vacation days that I had piled up I put to use for this trip,” he declared, shrugging his shoulders, like that wasn’t the most surprising thing she’d heard him say.

He actually had taken time off. She couldn’t believe this situation they were in or him right now. The thought that he was actually taking off time from work to spend time with his friends, with her, made her heart feel like it was being suspended in the air. Eliza was balked at this knowledge, shaking herself slightly from the feelings she had been pushing down for him the past few months. Who had she been kidding? That she could be in the same room as him this weekend and deny how much she wanted to run back into his arms, no matter how much pain he’d caused her? Now she was stuck in a store with him, this wasn’t good at all.

“I need to get out of here,” she grated, stepping away from him and towards the clothes section. “I can’t be with you—this is just awful.”

“Betsy…” he started, having to almost speed walk to keep up with her.

“Do not call me that,” she spluttered, recoiling at the nickname he used for her as she aimed her stride towards the pajama section.

His eyes flickered down in pain from her rancorous words. He rubbed his forehead in the way he tended to do when he was in the middle of some sort of puzzle that even his brilliant mind couldn’t figure his way through. She felt a tinge of guilt but held her hard glower out of resentment.

“Okay, Eliza, let’s just slow down for a second,” he said slowly.

“You know what, just don’t talk to me at all,” she specified, the anger she’d felt towards him engulfing her again. “That would be fantastic.”

The tables had turned on them and she knew it. She was supposed to be the patient one in their relationship. Calming Alexander when he flew to close to the sun, making him stop and look around instead of keeping a constant fast pace through life. She usually simmered his fury into a warm flame, making it more stable than a blazing one. But right now, Alexander was the one breathing steadily, trying to still the moment and the stress that came with this predicament.

“We’re stuck in a store together Eliza, we’re the only people here, and you’re not going to talk to me at all?” he tried reasoning with her, a look of misery and something she’d rather not put a name to flashing through his eyes.

When she saw this, she quickly withdrew her eyes, quivering with indignation as a spark of the past resurfaced in her brain and ruffled her disposition further. “You didn't seem to want to talk to me before you published that article, you didn't have the decency to tell me to my face, so why do you even want to talk to me now?”

He immediately looked crushed, his jaw fell open as if she had struck him with her hand. Alex took a step back, becoming even more sheepish than before. There was a heavy pause as he gathered what to say, she could practically hear his mind racing

“Eliza I’ve said it a hundred times but I’ll say it a hundred more. I’m sorry,” he spoke with conviction. “It was selfish and I should've told you first, I know that now. I just felt like I had to get the story out as soon as possible and I was blinded by my pride too much to think it through."

Eliza could tell he was telling the truth by the way he held her stare. She ran through the apology in her head, and her blood ran hotter as the events that had started to settle down in the news became ever the more present in her mind.

She shook her head vehemently at him, “You did think it through, otherwise you wouldn’t have written, what was it…ninety-five pages?”

She didn’t even see his face, as she took out her own light and pointing it in the opposite direction, but she could feel the anguish radiate off him that made tears prickle her eyes.

She turned away before she could rethink the choice. "You know what? This is a big store. So why don't we just stay out of each other’s way until morning,” she suggested, but she spoke of it like a statement of fact rather than a mere example of a possible solution.

“Eliza, please,” he begged, grabbing at her arm to pull her to a stop.

She again resisted his grasp that would be so easy to lean into and held her head up high.

“As they say, I’m going to the mattresses,” Eliza said, pointing to the furniture section and referencing the famous movie.

As she spun around, she heard him mutter, “You hate The Godfather.”

She paused her step, feeling a warmth spread through her because of the fact he knew such a small thing about her. It shouldn’t be a surprise. They knew one another better than anyone else. But the familiarity of it all made her knees feel like they were going weak and would buckle in a moment’s notice.

“I do,” she couldn’t help but affirm. “But not You’ve Got Mail, which I was referencing.”

She heard him laugh lowly, “That’s true, you made me watch it, a lot in fact.”

She pivoted toward him then, narrowing her eyes, but a hint of a grin betraying her as she said, “As I recall you usually cried at the end or I’d see you smile, even when your head was stuck in your stupid files from work.”

“Yeah, but you always did know how to distract me from them,” he said, daring a smirk as he leaned his head to the side.

“Someone had to,” she said, the words escaping her lips before she could stop them.

Through the dim lights of their phones and the flickering lights around them, she saw his face glow up in hope, which made her stiffen again. She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t let him think they were okay again, because it scared her how much she wanted them to be.

“Well, Goodnight,” she said snappily, breaking the ease on his features. “See you on the other side in the morning.”

He stared at her for a moment, before solemnly nodding and letting her walk away with a tear welling up in her vision.  
…

Eliza had been laying restlessly on a store mattress. She kept replaying the interactions they had over the past few hours over and over again in her head. She tried to identify the root meaning of every sentence, the truth behind every look. After doing so, she couldn’t deny how she seemed like he wanted to try, that at every moment he was reaching out to her in some way, begging her to grab onto his hand and never let go. Eliza couldn’t block this information anymore now that she confirmed it to herself.

She also could admit as she stuffed her face into the foam of the bed that she still loved him, and as much as she tried to convince herself, maybe he still loved her, despite his actions that had told her otherwise from the scandal.

After a few moments of letting these thoughts resonate in her mind, Eliza felt a glimmer of courage, leaping off of the mattress and scanning with her flashlight to find him in the store and get the answers she’d wanted for the past six months.

After a few minutes of wandering and whispering through every few steps, she finally found him, slouched on a bean bag chair a few aisles down.

She took a deep breath. Alex seemed to sense her presence as she sees him stir from where he was sitting, turning his head and leaping to his feet as he saw her behind him.

“Eliza, what is it?” he asked, sounding alert even though he’d just been half asleep seconds ago.

Eliza tugged at her hair tie, suddenly finding the ponytail to be constricting. She effortlessly pulled it out of her hair, feeling relief as it cascaded and flowed against the sides of her neck. She then tried to square her shoulders, even though fear splinted her from the inside. Eliza took one last deep inhale before speaking.

“Why?” she said.

His body came to attention, taking a nervous swallow. “Why what?”

“You know what,” she said with poise. He seemed like he wanted to sit back down for this particular chat, but she continued in a voice as stable as she could make it. “I thought we were happy. I thought that you loved me—just why did you do it? Why Alexander? I need to know the reason from you directly and not some article.”

He racked a hand through his hair and then took a step closer to her. Eliza stood her ground, trying not to flinch away this time as she had before. She was determined to give him a chance to explain, after all, that’s why she was here in front of him instead of avoiding the problem on the lumpy mattress she had just been on.

“I never stopped loving you Eliza,” he quickly said, thinking that was the most important part of her quarry and needed to be answered first. “I always have and I always will.”

Her heart thumped and she felt her breath quicken. His words coursed through her veins in a way that awakened something in her and made her senses seem clear.

“ _He still loves you. He still loves you. He still loves you_ ,” she repeated in her head as he waited for her to give some sort of response.

A slow smile grew on his face that she hadn’t yelled at his confession. Alex seemed to take her silence as approval to keep speaking. His feet were directly turned towards her, standing firm like a tree to convey his genuineness.

“You are the only person who has made me truly happy. I feel relaxed when I’m around you. You are this incredible woman that I’ve never deserved, and was lucky to have by my side,” he stressed, his voice fracturing with emotion. “We always fit together, you know?”

Of course, she knew what he meant. That’s why it all hurt so much.

Eliza swayed on her feet, her hands becoming clammy as she rubbed her fingers against her palms. She felt herself drifting forward, so much so that her head eventually was placed onto his chest. He took a sharp intake of breath in surprise but quickly leaned into her touch. He put a hand on her back and dropped his head so it skirted next to hers.

“If you really feel that way, why would you cheat on me with her?” she said meekly, her eyes glistening with tears.

She heard him choke back a sniffle of his own. He reached out his hand to grab hers, ducking his head and raising his brow to ask if it was okay. Eliza wanted him to, letting go of the anger she had and nodding that it was alright. A small bit of hope appeared on his face again as he grabbed her hand. As soon as they touched, she felt a wave of all the love she’d been holding back flood to her again. He squeezed her hand softly in return, making her think he felt a similar sensation.

“I was in a dark place, Eliza. People didn’t think they’d accept an independent politician as a candidate for mayor, I had to think of a strategy to change their minds that would make or break the campaign,” he began to explain with a somber expression. “You were away...and God, I missed you so much. And she was there, and I did something stupid.”

He shook his head at himself, his tongue darted out to his cheek in dismay. Her hand stilled a little on his, making him hold on even tighter and continue his speech that she clung onto.

“It’s like I was trying to feel something, anything to distract me from the stress I was under. But every time I was with her, it felt like I was more in a haze than before.”

She let a tear escape, gripping his hand tighter, wanting to put the past that blared brightly in her vision behind her, but finding it difficult as it weighed on her daily.

“Alexander I’ve tried to forgive you, but every time I see you it hurts,” she confessed.

“I know, and I’m so sorry Betsy. I wish I could make it go away, I would give anything to gain your trust again, to move past my imprudent mistake,” he spoke vehemently, pinning her with a heartfelt gaze.

She took a shaky breath, wanting that to happen more than anything. To do that, there was another question she had to ask. Eliza didn’t know if it would make the situation between them better or worse, but she had to clear up the uncertainty of his actions that were still left to be questioned.

She pulled her hand away aversely, using it to wipe her face and gather herself. Alex grimaced when she did so, but stood still, letting her take the next move in this strange game of chess.

She crossed her hands over her chest, “Answer me honestly, did you really stop seeing her when I got back?”

"Yes. The second you landed and I saw your face I knew it was the end of it,” he elucidated with a firm gesture of his hand.

She nodded a few times, feeling a bit pleased, but still hurt that it happened at all.  
He noticed her anguish, so he put a hand over his heart and bore his eyes onto hers.

“I pushed her away Eliza when you returned, I couldn’t do it anymore. I had felt numb to it, to everything…but you awakened my sanity and brought me back to reality. You were the light in my fog,” he spoke fervently.

She still had her head down. After a bit of time, she felt him softly take his other hand and raised her chin up. Eliza realized then how close she was to him, how easy and right it felt despite everything.

“I knew what a devastating mistake I made. I wanted to pretend it never happened after that,” he accentuated. “I’m so sorry Betsy. Please forgive me. These past five months have been torture without you.”

She sniveled, then laughed at the similarities of their emotional states. “That makes two of us.”

He smiled widely at her, looking at her in wonderment. She did as well, letting her guard slip ever so slightly in his presence. Her mind was racing from all his words, all his actions since he’d seen her. He showed her the uttermost respect, answered anything she’d asked, and gave her that love-struck look that she couldn’t help but feel a rush of longing in return from.

A thought zipped through her mind just then, she suddenly wanted to break this serious moment and trade it in for something different. Something that would confirm if what was between them months ago was still ever present.

“Where’s that cage they have with all the bouncy balls in it?” she asked abruptly.

He looked a little bit dazed by the change of topic, his mouth falling open slightly at the question.

“What?” he asked.

She smirked and bounced on her heels. “You heard me, the bouncy balls. Have you seen them? Every superstore has to have one.”

Recovering from his confusion, he looked like he was scanning through a map of the store in his mind before he pointed his phone to the left of the aisle they were currently in.

“I think they’re between the toy section and athletic. Why do you ask?” 

She didn’t answer, only gesturing her head in that direction and breaking out in a light jog. “Come with me,” she said in a chirpier voice that carried through the store.

He didn't falter at that command, swiftly trailing behind her until they arrived at the large bouncy balls that were being contained in a large cage. Eliza felt a gust of adrenaline, beginning to push her body against the cage.

“Woah, what are you doing?” Alexander asked, rushing to her side in worry.

She turned to him, eyes glinting with a light-hearted levity. “We’re going to race, bouncing from one end to the other. The loser gets ice cream out of one of the freezers and pays for it when we’re set free in the morning,” she explained, as it was an everyday action.

Alex looked at her dubiously, laughing as she kept trying to knock over the crate to no avail. “Eliza, do you know how far it is to reach the other end? It’s quite the jaunt.”

She put her hands on her hip, giving him a pointed stare. “The Alex I knew wouldn't back down from a challenge.”

He broke out into a lopsided grin, joining her quest and pushing over the rack of bouncy balls together, causing all of them to break free and cascade across the floor.

“Oh, you’re are so on,” he said, grabbing the green one next to his feet.

After counting each other off, they set off bouncing their way across the store. It was harder than Eliza thought it would be, but just as fun as she’d hoped. It eased some of the rigidity of before, her heart filled with the warmth of the sound of his familiar laughter joined with her own. They had to navigate around some displays and they were head to head until Alex had a huge display in front of him. Eliza took that as her chance to give it her all, bouncing with all the energy she had left until she hit the wall, ending the race with her victory as he slowly bounced around it and made it to the other end with her.

Eliza was panting profusely, sliding off the ball and onto the floor, resting her head on the refrigerator that seemed to be containing frozen pizzas.

“Ha, I won!” Eliza trumpeted after catching her breath.

She turned to Alex, who was smiling while wiping the sweat from his forehead. “I was so close. If I didn’t have the clothes display in the way, I could’ve beaten you.”

Alexander was always competitive, she could see the glint of disappointment in his eyes from the events. But there was no rant or suggestion of a rematch, making her think that he wasn’t all too upset about the outcome.

“Doesn't matter,” Eliza replied, smirking at him. “A win is a win.”

He smiled more softly then, not breaking eye contact as he said, “Too right, Betsy.”

The air between them became thick. Their faces weren’t far apart, both positioned to one another and leaning on the fridge behind them. Eliza wanted to freeze this moment, but the deal they made flew into her mind and she nudged his shoulder.

“A deal is a deal, Alex. You know what this means, get me a—,” she started to say, but he was already up, looking to see where the dessert section was in the store.

“A carton of Neapolitan ice cream?” he said with such certitude.

“Yeah,” Eliza said with radiant glow blushing on her face. “And a spoon if you can.”

His expression practically shined, running off to the ice cream section with haste.

“I’m on it!” he shouted from the distance.

After eating a carton of ice cream that they would probably have to pay for later, they got out a movie from the four-dollar bin and put it in one of the big TV’s that hung on the wall for display. They also popped some popcorn in the appliance section, putting various of the candies that came out of the canisters in the candy aisle on top of it. They fell into a rhythm quickly, Alexander commenting on inaccuracies and her pointing out her favorite moments and scoffing when he disagreed or only humming when he did agree with her. They laughed loudly without restriction, at the comedy of the movie whose name she’d already forgotten.

After the credits began to roll, he read to her out of her favorite John Green book she discovered in the book section. She let her head lull on to his shoulder as he spoke mellifluously. When her head plopped onto him he became a little flustered, stuttering on a few passages, but continued reading anyway. Eliza always used to have Alex read her anything when she was bored or stressed, she loved the way that there was an ounce of emotion in every syllable he uttered and an exact precision to his words, almost as if he were making them his own.

When they got through a few chapters, Alex spotted a book of fun facts and they decided to test each other on what they knew while on massage chairs. She found an old karaoke machine a few minutes later that was crammed in the back of the electronics section. Eliza didn’t even have to coerce him that much to do a duet with her when she plugged it in. His voice wasn’t perfect by any means, but he sang with the passion that he held in normal conversation, and she sang in the sweet soprano that her mother had made her perfect as a child. But against all sense, their voices seemed to fit together quite seamlessly.

She couldn’t help but like this, how easy it felt between them. She now didn’t want to leave the store as she had earlier in the evening, wishing the night could go on forever so they didn’t have to face the real world as they stepped out the doors in the morning.

A few hours had past and they were currently on two separate mattresses. Alex and Eliza were conversing about the things they had not been able to tell one another since they’d been apart. Like how one of the orphans at one of the foster houses she worked with reminded her of Alex, reading a poem on their talent night. Alex told her about how he saw these flowers that grew by the place he’d been staying at, that was her favorite and how he considered picking them and putting it on her doorstep but decided against it. They talked about nothing and everything at the same time. As the conversation pacified, her mind drifted off to his current presence, and how she found it suspicious that he came here in the first place.

“Why did you take a week off?” she asked in a rush, like she normally would when she was ordering a cup of coffee before heading off to the office.

He dropped his head down, staring at his hands that he began to ring together. “I told you already.”

Alex brought his face up however within a few seconds with a masked grin. “Hey, we haven’t gone over to the art supplies yet. You could try sketching me if you wanted, I’ll sit perfectly still this time.”

“You didn’t tell me the full truth,” she said, ignoring his attempt at a distraction. “You’re not telling me something and I want to know what it is.”

“Eliza, I said that my schedule freed up, and that’s why I’m here,” he said, his voice rising a little as he fidgeted on his mattress.

She shook her head at him, leaning up so she could see him fully.

“A day ago, Laff told me you weren't coming. Then suddenly you’re here, what changed?” she demanded.

He sighed, turning his face so he could lock eyes with Eliza and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked at her wearily, seeming to think if he would speak the goodwill that had formed between them would shatter like a piece of glass.

“I heard you were coming so I took the time off,” he admitted, the statement seeming to hang long in the air.

Eliza blinked a few times, feeling the breath be taken from under her. Eliza shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow, she was. He’d actually taken off time from work to spend time with her which was a little startling when looking at their past relationship. he always acted like he was running out of time and none could be spared with her, especially during the election. She bit her lip and moved forward so she was sitting on the edge of her bed. Alex’s eyes had flickered away from hers, seeming to be focused on the home appliances behind them

After a minute of Eliza not responding, Alex again broke the silence with more desperation in his tone, standing up from the mattress. “Eliza, I’ve been slowing down at the office, and not just for the week. I’ve been thinning down my hours spent there over the past few months.”

Just as Eliza was starting to grasp his decision to take time off for her, she was now even more startled by that statement, she didn’t believe it.

“You looked pretty busy when I walked by your office the other day,” she said, trying to disagree with him.

His movement hitched, a twitch of his lips appearing. “You stopped by?”

She felt a gust of embarrassment, shifting her eye contact from his. “I wouldn’t say stopped as much as paused by the window.”

This gave him confidence, he moved from his position in from of her, cautiously sitting next to her on her own mattress.

“The first few weeks since we broke up, I threw myself into my work, thinking I’d give you time while I tried to forget by keeping myself busy. But I couldn’t,” he croaked with a small huff of hilarity. “I started decreasing my hours at the office, trying to get that healthy balance everyone raves about.”

She almost laughed but pinned her focus on making sure what he was saying was concrete and she wouldn’t slip under any broken promises this time. “You really took off work out of your own volition?” 

He nodded. “Laff told me you were visiting them up here like we used to do together. I knew then that I needed to see you, to try and get you to forgive me. Or, to look me in the eyes again at least,” he said, holding her stare so steadily she felt as if she were floating instead of just raised off the ground by sitting on a mattress.

He pursed his lips, “I know it wasn’t fair to you, I should have made sure it was okay before I showed up. I was prepared when that door opened to turn around and leave the second you told me to. But you didn’t…and I got a bit of hope again.”

Eliza felt another wall within her crumble. She could’ve done it, slammed the door in his face, but she hadn’t wanted to. Seeing him today although had plucked at a sore spot was a bit of an awakening. It confirmed everything she’d been trying to forget between them.

She wanted them to work, but her chest still felt heavy from unspoken speeches piled up in her brain. She racked a hand through her hair as she got what she needed to say off of her chest.

“I was so angry at you. You were with her for a few weeks but lied to me about it for a year,” she voiced, her throat throbbing. “I couldn’t stop seeing you with her every time I saw you at the apartment getting your things, or in the paper or on TV. I just saw the pain you caused me reflected in your image.”

Alex winced, withering somewhat. “Eliza I—.”

“Let me finish,” she said, in a potent tone. When Alex nodded, she continued. “I was so broken by the thought that our whole relationship was a sham. That you didn’t love me the way that I did—that I do love you.”

There, she had said it, and she felt good as the confession took a load off her back. His face paled in surprise, but he looked elated from her words.

“You still love me?” he asked, disbelievingly.

She blew out a breath, reaching for his hand and gently grasping it in hers, “I could never stop Alex.”

Alex’s face shattered, a tear falling down on his face and holding onto her hand like it was the last life preserver. Eliza waited a few moments until his eyes were clear and until he straightened up and recovered from her substantial declaration.

“I don’t want to be angry anymore, it’s exhausting,” Eliza grated, pursing her lips and looking at him decisively. “I want to forgive you.”

Alex took her other hand, bringing his face to hers so their foreheads were touching. He looked at her directly with so much love boring onto her. “Tell me what I have to do to make that happen.”

She considered this for a second but already knew the answer. “I understand this legacy you want to leave and the impact you want to make. I’m not asking you to give anything up. But, I am asking for you to love me with everything you’ve got and to never let go. Can you do that?”

He nodded, his face beaming with a joy she hadn’t seen on his face in many months. “I can do that.”

He dipped in closer to her face but paused out of the indecision of not knowing if it was the right action due to being too soon. Eliza smiled at this, thinking that she had waited enough for this, and met him halfway. She placed her lips softly onto his and poured all her feelings that were left to be expressed into the kiss.

After a few moments, Alex drew his lips away with reluctance. He ran a hand tentatively over her cheek and placed a chaste kiss on her temple.

“I love you, Eliza, so much,” he annunciated, voice unwavering as he pulled her into an impassioned embrace.

Eliza let herself hold onto him, feeling as if things were going to be alright between them again. It would take time, and trust in him wouldn’t come back easily, but she knew in her bones that she adored him and would put forth the effort to make that place next to her which he used to reside open to him again.

“I love you too,” she whispered into his hair.

When the store opened up in the next few hours, they paid what they had used in the store with bright smiles, and walked out the doors hand in hand together. They faced reality again as the morning sun beat down on them in the almost empty parking lot.

As they got back in the car, they packed the trunk with the food they promised to get. After emptying all the contents of the cart, Alex sat at the steering wheel. When she buckled her seatbelt, she realized that he had made no attempt to move. She waited a few moments, observing his deep contemplation with amusement.

When a smile grew on his face, she poked him in the shoulder. That seemed to stir his consciousness, putting the key in the ignition, but he still grinned to himself and made no attempt to back out of the parking spot they were in.

“Alex, what is it?” she asked, readjusting the seatbelt so it didn’t rub uncomfortably on her neck.

“I have to know about your sudden change of mind back there,” he started, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel and facing her. “While letting me run around the store with you like that was amazing, I want to know why.”

Eliza chuckled in a triumphant way. “I wanted to see if I could be with you, in a way that didn’t cause any pain. Fulfilling my childhood wishes of messing around with stuff in a vacant store seemed like a good way as any to find that out.”

He turned the car on, the familiar sound of one of her favorite classical songs by Johannes Brahms soothing her senses. He tilted his head innocently at her. “So, we passed?”

She sank into her car seat, feeling more relaxed than she had in ages. “Yeah, we did.”

They drove to the cabin then, both smiling so much that she felt like her cheeks would be sore the next day. When they arrived with their friends questioning where they had been, and that they would’ve called the police if Burr hadn’t kept nagging them about the fact they hadn’t been gone for twenty-four hours yet. They didn’t seem to need to answer their questions however as Alex gave her a hand out of the car and kept it there as they walked into the cabin.


End file.
